The Dictatorship of Ugly

Oh, wow, there on the six o’clock news were the rounded features of Barry Diller modestly purring in unctuous LA diction his pleasure at being approved to go ahead with Pier 55—an undulating concrete is-land held up by enormous mushroom-shaped piles, some more than 60 feet above the river.

The Times offered that he will contribute $113 million via a family trust, but us taxpayers will have to build and maintain a $40 million bridge to Diller Island to then pay admission to Diller rock events.

What gets me is how design nuts this thing is—the British designer Thomas Heatherwick was excoriated by the British press for offering a tree planted bridge over the Thames and now this fried-egg-shaped concrete island tilted up on the back side so Diller can look down at it from his office.

As more and more of the global wealth spills into fewer and fewer hands we are subject to the tastelessness of the billionaires. In Barry we have a lollapalooza. We should convince Barry that we don’t need the ugliest and most expensive concrete island ever built—we need a hospital.